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Everyday, archaeologists, anthropologists, geologists and paleontologists make fascinating discoveries about the ancient world. Only a handful of these discoveries get the coverage they deserve. Herodotus Returns spreads the word by collecting the latest news on the distant past.
(Image: paintings in Lascaux Cave)

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The ancient Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC) spent a lifetime wandering to distant corners of the known world, recording the customs, beliefs and stories of the nations he encountered. Known today as "The Father of History," Herodotus was also arguably the world's first anthropologist and journalist, as well as being a marvelous storyteller. His peculiar "The Histories," the first history of the world, provides an account of the Greco-Persian wars, but doesn't leave out the flying snakes of Arabia and dog-sized ants in India.

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Archaeologists in northeast China have discovered bricks dating back 5,000 – 7,000 years, adding nearly 2,000 years to the history of Chinese brickmaking.

“The five calcined bricks were unearthed from a site of the Yangshao Culture Period dating 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. Previously, the oldest known bricks in the country were more than 4,000 years old,” Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology researcher Yang Yachang said.

The bricks, including three red ones and two gray ones, all uncompleted, Yang said. The site under excavation is located at Liaoyuan Village of Baqiao District, and Huaxu Town, Lantian County of Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province.

Yangshao Culture is a Neolithic culture that flourished along the Yellow River, which runs across China from west to east. The culture was named after Yangshao, the name of the first village discovered of the culture, in 1921 in central China’s Henan Province.